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Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and
Mental Health
Open Access
Research
Misrecognition of facial expressions in delinquents
Wataru Sato*
1
, Shota Uono
2
, Naomi Matsuura
3
and Motomi Toichi
4
Address:
1
Department of Comparative Study of Cognitive Development (Funded by Benesse Corporation), Primate Research Institute, Kyoto
University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan,
2
Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Faculty of Education, Kyoto University, Yoshida-
honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan,
3
Graduate School of Education, Tokyo University of Social Welfare, Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-
ku, Tokyo 170-8426, Japan and
4
Graduate School of Human Health Science, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Shogoin Kawara-cho, Sakyo-
ku, Kyoto 606-8057, Japan
Email: Wataru Sato* - ; Shota Uono - ;
Naomi Matsuura - ; Motomi Toichi -

* Corresponding author
Abstract
Background: Previous reports have suggested impairment in facial expression recognition in
delinquents, but controversy remains with respect to how such recognition is impaired. To address
this issue, we investigated facial expression recognition in delinquents in detail.
Methods: We tested 24 male adolescent/young adult delinquents incarcerated in correctional
facilities. We compared their performances with those of 24 age- and gender-matched control
participants. Using standard photographs of facial expressions illustrating six basic emotions,
participants matched each emotional facial expression with an appropriate verbal label.
Results: Delinquents were less accurate in the recognition of facial expressions that conveyed
disgust than were control participants. The delinquents misrecognized the facial expressions of
disgust as anger more frequently than did controls.
Conclusion: These results suggest that one of the underpinnings of delinquency might be impaired
recognition of emotional facial expressions, with a specific bias toward interpreting disgusted
expressions as hostile angry expressions.
Background
In recent years, increasing attention has been focused on
the high rate of delinquency, which is a serious social
problem in some countries [1]. To address this problem,
it is important to clarify the psychological mechanisms
underlying conduct problems in youths. Some clinical
observations and questionnaire surveys have revealed def-
icits in emotional communication among children and
adolescents with conduct problems (e.g., [2]).
One crucial component of emotional communication is
the recognition of emotional facial expressions of other
individuals. Facial expressions indicate moment-to-
moment changes in inner emotional states [3] and/or
communicative intentions [4]. People often use the infor-
mation communicated by emotional facial expressions as

cues for modulating social behaviors [5]. In particular, the
recognition of others' facial expressions has been shown
to modulate aggressive behaviors [6]. This finding sug-
gests that there may be a relationship between facial
expression recognition and conduct problems involving
aggression.
Published: 18 September 2009
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2009, 3:27 doi:10.1186/1753-2000-3-27
Received: 3 April 2009
Accepted: 18 September 2009
This article is available from: />© 2009 Sato et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( />),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Consistent with this notion, some previous studies have
revealed that delinquents are impaired in their recogni-
tion of facial expressions of emotion [7-9]. However, the
types of emotion they have difficulty recognizing have not
been clearly identified. For example, McCown et al. [9]
investigated the recognition of facial expressions of six
basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness,
and surprise; cf. [3]) among incarcerated juvenile delin-
quents. They found that, compared with control youths,
juvenile delinquents were less accurate in the recognition
of facial expressions of disgust, sadness, and surprise. On
the other hand, Cadesky et al. [7] investigated the recogni-
tion of facial and vocal expressions of anger, fear, happi-
ness, and sadness in children with conduct problems.
They reported that these children were impaired in the

recognition of fear, happiness, and sadness. In summary,
although the previous studies have consistently indicated
the impairment of facial expression recognition in delin-
quents, it remains unclear whether there is a specific pat-
tern of impairment.
Cadesky et al. [7], in their subsequent analysis, examined
the error patterns that suggested poor emotion recogni-
tion among delinquent participants. By conducting visual
inspections of their data, they found that participants with
conduct problems tended to mislabel other emotions as
anger. Because they did not conduct statistical analyses,
their conclusion should be regarded as tentative. This
finding, however, seems to provide an important clue
regarding how delinquents misperceive others' emotional
expressions. Several researchers have reported a similar
tendency among children with conduct problems to mis-
perceive benign social situations as hostile [10-12].
In the present study, we investigated facial expression rec-
ognition in adolescent/young adult delinquents in greater
detail than have previous studies, comparing delinquents
with age- and gender-matched controls. We examined
participants' recognition of facial expressions conveying
the six basic emotions previously examined by McCown
et al. [9] and conducted error analyses for each emotion.
We predicted that delinquents would recognize facial
expressions of some emotions less accurately than would
control participants, with a bias toward the misinterpreta-
tion of emotions as anger. Given that some previous stud-
ies have reported cultural differences in expression
recognition (e.g., [13]), we used facial-expression stimuli

from two different cultures.
Methods
Participants
Twenty-four male adolescent/young adult delinquents
(mean age ± SD, 18.3 ± 1.3 years) participated in this
study. They were incarcerated in two correctional facilities
in Japan, A (n = 13) and H (n = 11). Statistical data have
suggested that Japan's rate of delinquency is comparable
to those of some Western countries (e.g., France) [14]. In
Japan, however, the proportion of delinquents who are
incarcerated in correctional facilities is very low; in 2004,
only 0.05% of delinquents who had been arrested were
incarcerated in correctional facilities [1]. The fact that the
participants of this study were in correctional facilities
indicates that they had severe conduct problems. Results
of the Japanese version of the Child Behavior Checklist
(CBCL) [15,16] completed by their teachers have con-
firmed severe conduct problems in our participants (Table
1). We found no significant differences between the two
facilities in subscale or total scores on the CBCL (t -test, Ps
> 0.1). The mean full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) of
these delinquents, measured by the revised Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) or revised Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R), was in the nor-
mal range (mean ± SD full-scale IQ = 85.1 ± 11.3; mean ±
SD verbal IQ = 84.7 ± 10.9; mean ± SD performance IQ =
87.9 ± 11.6).
Twenty-four age- and gender-matched participants (mean
age ± SD, 17.4 ± 3.5 years; t-test, t(46) = 1.54, P > 0.1; all
males) served as controls. They were recruited through

advertisements and participated in the experiment as vol-
unteers. Their IQs were also measured by the WAIS-R or
WISC-R (mean ± SD full-scale IQ = 108.6 ± 18.3; mean ±
SD verbal IQ = 113.1 ± 21.8; mean ± SD performance IQ
= 101.4 ± 13.8). The IQs of control participants were sig-
nificantly higher than were those of delinquent partici-
pants (t(46) = 5.62, P < 0.001).
All participants were born in Japan, and their first lan-
guage was Japanese. All participants had normal or cor-
rected-to-normal visual acuity. All participants gave
informed consent to participate in this study, which was
conducted in accordance with the ethical provisions of the
institution and the Declaration of Helsinki. No candidate
refused to participate in the experiment.
Table 1: Mean T-scores (with SD) for the Child Behavior
Checklist among juvenile delinquents.
Subscale M SD
Social withdrawal 56.2 6.1
Somatic complaints 54.1 5.7
Anxiety/depression 58.6 7.2
Social problems 56.3 7.4
Thought problems 55.4 5.5
Attention problems 58.9 8.5
Delinquent behavior 70.3 9.9
Aggressive behavior 62.9 13.1
Internalizing behavior 55.5 9.4
Externalizing behavior 66.1 12.3
Total 66.9 8.9
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Stimuli
A total of 48 photographs of facial expressions depicting
six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sad-
ness, and surprise) were used as stimuli. Half of these pic-
tures consisted of Caucasian models and the remaining
half consisted of Japanese models. The pictures of Cauca-
sian and Japanese models were chosen from the standard
facial image sets of Ekman and Friesen [17] and Mat-
sumoto and Ekman [18], respectively.
Apparatus
The events were controlled by SuperLab Pro 2.0 (Cedrus),
implemented on a laptop Windows computer (Inspiron
8000, Dell).
Procedure
A label-matching paradigm used by a previous neuropsy-
chological study [19] was employed to assess recognition
of facial expressions. Pictures of people whose faces
expressed various emotions were presented on the moni-
tor one by one in a random order. Verbal labels identify-
ing the six basic emotions were presented next to each
photograph. Participants were asked to select the label
that best described the emotion shown in each photo-
graph. They were instructed to consider all six alternatives
carefully before responding. No time limits were set, and
no feedback was provided about performance during the
test trials. Participants saw each emotional expression
eight times, resulting in a total of 48 trials for each partic-
ipant.
To confirm adequate understanding of the emotional
labels, we interviewed participants before testing began,

asking them to provide examples of situations that would
elicit each of the emotions. All participants were able to
give appropriate examples without difficulty. After this
interview, participants completed five practice trials to
become familiarized with the procedure.
Data Analysis
The data were analyzed using SPSS 10.0J (SPSS Japan).
The percentages of accurate responses were analyzed with
a 2 (group) × 6 (facial emotion) × 2 (stimulus type)
design. Full-scale IQ and age were included in the analysis
as covariates. To appropriately process the violation of the
sphericity assumption for the repeated-measures design,
data in the levels of the within-subjects independent vari-
ables were viewed as separate dependent variables, and a
multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was con-
ducted (cf. [20]). For significant interactions related to the
group factor, follow-up multivariate analyses of variance
(MANOVAs) were conducted with Bonferroni's correc-
tion; the α level was divided by the number of statistical
tests performed (i.e., 6 for facial emotions). The adjusted
P values were reported (cf. [21]). Similar follow-up analy-
ses were also conducted for other significant main effects
and interactions. For these multivariate analyses, Wilks' λ
criterion was used. The percentages of erroneous
responses were analyzed for facial emotions that showed
a significant effect of group. The percentage of erroneous
responses for each emotional label was calculated as the
rate of erroneously selected labels in all trials for that
facial expression. Based on our prediction, a t-test com-
paring groups was conducted for selections of the anger

label. Because the aforementioned follow-up MANOVAs
on the accuracy of recognition did not show any signifi-
cant interactions between group and stimulus type, the
factor of stimulus type was collapsed.
Results
Accuracy
The MANCOVA for the percentages of accurate responses
(Table 2; Figure 1) revealed a significant interaction of
group × facial emotion × stimulus type (F [5, 40] = 3.65,
P < 0.01), which was the only significant effect found with
respect to the group factor (cf. main effect of group: F [1,
44] = 1.44; interaction of group × facial emotion: F [5, 40]
= 0.50; interaction of group × stimulus type: F [1, 44] =
1.89; Ps > 0.1). We also found a significant main effect of
Table 2: Mean (with SE) percentages of accurate facial emotion recognition.
Facial emotion
Group Stimulus type AN DI FE HA SA SU
Delinquent Caucasian M 54.2 42.7 36.5 88.5 57.3 83.3
SE (5.4) (5.5) (6.4) (6.0) (6.5) (6.0)
Japanese M 66.7 30.2 41.7 96.9 71.9 95.8
SE (4.4) (6.4) (5.8) (1.7) (6.8) (2.5)
Control Caucasian M 60.4 65.6 46.9 97.9 74.0 94.8
SE (5.8) (5.2) (5.1) (1.4) (4.9) (2.1)
Japanese M 62.5 41.7 31.3 99.0 71.9 88.5
SE (5.2) (6.5) (6.1) (1.0) (4.8) (4.3)
AN = anger; DI = disgust; FE = fear; HA = happiness; SA = sadness; SU = surprise.
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emotion (F [5, 40] = 4.40, P < 0.005), a significant inter-
action of emotion × stimulus type × IQ (F [5, 40] = 2.68,

P < 0.05), and a significant interaction of emotion × stim-
ulus type × age (F [5, 40] = 3.30, P < 0.05). Trends toward
significance were found for the main effect of age (F [1,
44] = 3.64, P < 0.1) and the interaction of emotion × stim-
ulus type (F [5, 40] = 2.15, P < 0.1). Other main effects or
interactions were not significant (Ps > 0.1).
As follow-up analyses on the interaction of group × facial
emotion × stimulus type, we conducted an analysis with
the factors of group and stimulus type for each facial emo-
tion using a MANOVA with Bonferroni's correction (α =
0.008). The results revealed that the main effect of group
was significant for the facial expressions depicting disgust,
indicating less accurate recognition in delinquents than in
control participants (F [1, 46] = 8.93, adjusted P < 0.05).
The main effect of stimulus type was also significant for
expressions of disgust, indicating more accurate recogni-
tion in response to Caucasian than to Japanese faces (F [1,
46] = 8.96, adjusted P < 0.05). Other main effects or inter-
actions were not significant (adjusted Ps > 0.1).
Follow-up analyses were conducted for the main effect of
facial emotion to clarify overall patterns of expression rec-
ognition. The Bonferroni-corrected (α = 0.003) MANO-
VAs showed the following significant differences (Fs [1,
47] > 14.60, adjusted Ps < 0.01): happy and surprised
expressions were recognized with greater accuracy than
were other expressions; sad and angry expressions were
recognized with greater accuracy than were disgusted and
fearful expressions.
To test whether additional factors influenced the recogni-
tion of facial expressions of disgust, follow-up analyses

were conducted for the other significant three-way interac-
tions. We conducted a two-way analysis with Bonferroni's
correction (α = 0.008) for each facial emotion. For the
interaction of facial emotion × stimulus type × IQ, the
main effect of stimulus type and the interaction of stimu-
lus type × IQ were significant for surprised expressions (Fs
[1, 46] = 15.27 and 14.44, respectively, adjusted Ps <
0.01), and no other significant main effects or interactions
were found (adjusted Ps > 0.1). For the interaction of
facial emotion × stimulus type × age, no significant main
effects or interactions were found (adjusted Ps > 0.1). In
summary, factors other than group and stimulus type had
no significant effect on the recognition of disgusted
expressions.
Error
The t-test showed that delinquents selected anger as the
label to describe disgusted expressions more frequently
than did control participants (Figure 2; t [46] = 2.30, P <
0.05).
Discussion
Our results revealed that adolescent/young adult delin-
quent participants were less accurate in recognizing facial
expressions of disgust than were control participants. The
Mean (with SE) percentages of accurate facial emotion recog-nition collapsed across stimulus types in delinquents (DEL) and controls (CON)Figure 1
Mean (with SE) percentages of accurate facial emo-
tion recognition collapsed across stimulus types in
delinquents (DEL) and controls (CON). An asterisk
indicates a significant difference between groups (P < 0.05).
AN = anger; DI = disgust; FE = fear; HA = happiness; SA =
sadness; SU = surprise.

Mean (with SE) percentages of errors for the recognition of disgusted facial expressions in delinquents (DEL) and con-trols (CON)Figure 2
Mean (with SE) percentages of errors for the recogni-
tion of disgusted facial expressions in delinquents
(DEL) and controls (CON). An asterisk indicates a signifi-
cant difference between groups (P < 0.05). AN = anger; FE =
fear; HA = happiness; SA = sadness; SU = surprise.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2009, 3:27 />Page 5 of 7
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problems in the facial expression recognition among
delinquents are consistent with findings of previous stud-
ies [7-9]. More specifically, the present results are consist-
ent with a previous study in identifying impairment in the
recognition of disgust [9]. Despite methodological differ-
ences among studies, such as differences in the cultural
background of participants, the present study is compati-
ble with previous studies in suggesting that delinquents
have impaired ability to recognize emotional facial
expressions.
Our results on errors revealed that delinquents had a ten-
dency to misrecognize facial expressions of disgust as
anger. Although this type of error was also prominent in
control participants, which is plausible because angry and
disgusted facial expressions are similar with respect to
featural changes and both express negative emotional
states [3], delinquents showed a much greater tendency
than did control participants to exhibit this misrecogni-
tion. Although the difference in error rates between
groups was not large (17.2%), such errors can provide val-
uable information regarding impairments in expression
recognition (e.g., [19]). This error pattern is consistent

with the suggestion by Cadesky et al. [7] that children
with conduct problems tend to perceive other emotions as
anger. The present results also agree with previous reports
that participants with conduct problems misperceived
social situations as hostile [10-12], although those studies
did not focus on the recognition of facial expressions.
Extending these previous findings, the present study pro-
vides the first clear evidence that delinquents have a bias
toward the misrecognition of others' disgusted expres-
sions as anger.
Delinquents' misperception of facial expressions of dis-
gust as anger is important when we consider the social
functions of these emotions. Although both angry and
disgusted facial expressions induce negative emotional
states in perceivers, angry expressions induce higher
arousal than do disgusted expressions [22]. Furthermore,
disgusted facial expressions suggest withdrawal motiva-
tion on the part of the sender, whereas angry expressions
indicate approach motivation [23]. Specifically, angry
facial expressions imply the occurrence of subsequent
hostile behaviors [24]. These data suggest that the misrec-
ognition of disgusted facial expressions as angry expres-
sions might induce relatively more intense emotionally
aroused states in the receiver, and might result in anticipa-
tion of relatively more dangerous behavior on the part of
the sender than would accurate recognition. These mis-
perceptions of facial expressions might therefore contrib-
ute to aggressive behaviors in delinquents.
The bias toward misrecognizing other emotions as anger
is particularly significant because anger appears to play an

important role in delinquency. It has been pointed out
that children with conduct problems are quicker to
become angry and their anger tends to be more intense
[25]. Plattner et al. [26] confirmed that delinquents expe-
rienced higher state and trait negative emotions, including
anger, than did control participants. A previous self-report
study also found that anger was the reason most often
given for interpersonal delinquency [27]. In addition,
some previous studies reported that the perceivers' own
emotional states influenced the recognition of others'
emotional facial expressions (e.g., [28]). Taken together,
the data suggest that delinquents might be projecting their
own heightened angry emotions onto others when they
misperceive others' negative, but not hostile, emotional
states as anger.
Promising directions for further investigation include
efforts to understand the developmental mechanisms for
the impaired recognition of facial expressions in delin-
quents. One possible mechanism suggested by some stud-
ies involves a link between child maltreatment and
subsequent delinquency [29,30]. Interestingly, consistent
with our finding, Pollak et al. [31] found that maltreated
children demonstrated impaired recognition of facial
expressions of disgust, along with a misrecognition bias
toward anger. Also, in keeping with previous findings for
delinquents [10-12], studies have shown that maltreated
children exhibited a bias toward attributing hostile intent
to others [32,33]. The parallel between findings from
these earlier studies and results of the present study sug-
gest that impaired facial expression recognition in delin-

quents may be, at least in part, attributable to experiences
of abuse during childhood.
Our results revealed differences in recognition accuracy in
response to Caucasian and Japanese faces selected from
standard stimulus sets [17,18]. This result suggests the
possibility that cultural differences underpinned the find-
ing that facial expressions depicting disgust were accu-
rately recognized more frequently in response to
Caucasian rather than Japanese models among both Japa-
nese delinquent and control participants. However, we
must note that the stimuli differed not only with regard to
cultural dimensions but also with regard to some other
properties. For example, whereas Caucasian stimuli
included both young and middle-aged models, Japanese
stimuli consisted solely of young models. Future studies
might be necessary to confirm the cultural differences in
expression recognition among delinquents.
Some potential limitations in the present study must be
acknowledged. First, the mean IQ of the delinquents in
this study was near the bottom of the normal range, rais-
ing the possibility that these delinquents showed
impaired expression recognition partly because the task
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2009, 3:27 />Page 6 of 7
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was too difficult for them. However, the MANCOVA
revealed no significant influence of IQ on group differ-
ences. Furthermore, there was no significant group differ-
ence with respect to the recognition of fear, which is
generally the most difficult to correctly recognize among
emotions (cf., [34]). Consistent with this finding, previ-

ous studies investigating expression recognition in indi-
viduals with subnormal intelligence did not find specific
impairment in the recognition of facial expressions of dis-
gust or a misrecognition bias toward angry expressions
[35]. These findings indicate that the impaired expression
recognition in delinquents found in this study was attrib-
utable to a bias that was independent of intelligence level.
Second, the reaction times of responses were not recorded
and analyzed in the present study. It is possible that differ-
ent recognition performances derived from different cog-
nitive processes, which could have been reflected in
reaction times. Studies investigating reaction times will
provide clues regarding the cognitive processes underlying
expression recognition in delinquents.
Finally, confounding factors might have contributed to
differences in expression recognition. For example, previ-
ous studies have shown that psychiatric disorders (e.g.,
schizophrenia [36]) and socio-economic status (e.g., eco-
nomic disadvantages [37]) can influence expression rec-
ognition. In this study we were not able to access
information on these issues due to the policies of the min-
istry that administrates the facilities. Furthermore, other
studies have shown that the emotional states (e.g., state
anxiety [28]) and personality traits (e.g., empathy [38]) of
participants can affect expression recognition. These fac-
tors might have also influenced expression recognition in
delinquents. Future research incorporating these factors
should provide additional insights regarding expression
recognition in delinquents.
Conclusion

In summary, we found that the adolescent/young adult
delinquents were impaired in their recognition of facial
expressions of disgust. Their error patterns showed that
they had a tendency to misrecognize facial expressions
depicting disgust as anger. These results suggest that one
factor underlying delinquency might be impairment in
understanding emotions communicated by disgusted
facial expressions, especially a tendency toward hostile
interpretations.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
WS, NM, and MT designed this research. WS, SU, and NM
collected the data. WS and SU analyzed data. WS, SU, and
MT wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved
the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by funds from the Meiji Yasuda Mental Health
Foundation and by a Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Pro-
motion of Science.
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